Hypodermic needle syringes often are used in home and away from home environments and other non-medical institution environments by persons such as diabetic patients who must control their medical condition by insulin therapy, whereby a person receives injections one or more times a day. Typically, insulin and other medical injections are self-administered and hypodermic needle syringes generally must be supplied to the receiver for use in the home, work place, or travel environment.
Disposable or one-use needle syringes of the type used for injecting insulin into diabetics are available by subscription from a physician and typically are formed of a uniform shape and size. The standard disposable syringe employs a plunger which is drawn back from one end of the syringe barrel to fill the syringe through the needle which is held within a vial of insulin during a filling operation of the syringe. After injection, the used insulin needle syringes should be safely collected and disposed of without presenting a hazard to other members of the family or community.
Presently, the prior art discloses many different collectors for collecting medical sharps and other medical wastes, however, none of the known prior art discloses a collector or receptor designed specifically for use at home and while away from home for collecting and disposing of hypodermic syringes, such as insulin needle syringes. Thus, diabetics typically discard used insulin needle syringes into a generic collector, such as a cardboard box or an empty plastic milk jug or directly into a generic household garbage can, all of which usually are delivered to a local refuse collection facility. During containment and transfer of the garbage and hypodermic syringes to a waste collection facility, there is a hazard that the hypodermic syringes might contaminate family members or workers who are handling the garbage. Experience demonstrates that the skin scratch or puncture by the needle of the syringes have caused occasional injury to people who are in the environment of a diabetic patient.
For example, when the garbage bag is filled with household trash, including hypodermic syringes and is being transported, the needle of the syringe can protrude through its generic cardboard box or milk jug and the garbage bag to scratch or puncture a family member who is transporting the garbage from a room in the house to the household garbage disposal area, or to scratch or puncture a worker who is collecting the trash to a local waste collection facility.
Therefore, it would be advantageous to provide a disposable, puncture-resistant container designed specifically for safely collecting and disposing of hypodermic syringes in a personal environment, such as home, work place, or travel environment.